Ghana: Inter-ministerial team to handle Ebola

The Government has constituted an inter-ministerial team, comprising the Health, Communications, Interior and Local Government and Rural Development Ministers to protect the country from the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus disease.

A statement signed by Dr Edward K. Omane Boamah, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said under the Chairmanship of the Minister for Health, the inter-ministerial team will be responsible for the intensification of the fight against the deadly disease.

The team would also supervise the work of an existing technological team made of representatives from multiple state agencies.

Ebola hemorrhagic fever (Ebola HF) is one of numerous Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers. It is a severe, often fatal disease in humans and nonhuman primates (such as monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees).

Ebola HF is caused by infection with a virus of the family Filoviridae, genus Ebolavirus. When infection occurs, symptoms usually begin abruptly. The first Ebolavirus species was discovered in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo near the Ebola River.

Since then, outbreaks have appeared sporadically.

According to an AFP report, sourcing the World Health Organisation , since March, there have been 1,201 cases of Ebola and 672 deaths in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The disease has also been reported in Nigeria.

The report says Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has warned that the crisis is set to get worse and that there is no overarching strategy to handle the crisis.

But the Government of Ghana says it is working feverishly to keep the disease off its borders and to manage it should there be an outbreak. GNA